Gender Hierarchies in the Health Labor Force

Abstract

Rapid growth and increasing diversity characterize trends of the U.S. health labor force in recent decades. While these trends have promoted change on many different fronts of the health system, hierarchical organization of the health work force remains intact. Workers continue to be stratified by class and race. Superimposed on both strata is a structure that segregates jobs by gender, between and within health occupations. While female health workers outnumber males by three to one, they remain clustered in jobs and occupations lower in pay, less prestigious, and less autonomous than those of their male counterparts. What has prevented women from improving their economic and leadership status as health workers? Is work performed by men of higher prestige because men perform it? Would curative and technical fields have less status if dominated by women? Would health promotion be funded more generously if most health educators were men? In this article, two analytical constructs are presented to take a closer look at occupational categories, selected structural characteristics, differential rewards, and their relationship to gender segregation. Taken together, they demonstrate how women always cluster at the bottom and men at the top, no matter which dimension is chosen.

Values, Salience, and Job Satisfaction: Male and Female Occupational Therapists' Responses

“…This seems to suggest that many females who occupy managerial positions are there by virtue of their greater numbers in the profession, as opposed to any need to realize their values through administrative roles. Research on therapists in the United States supports a trend towards an increasing number of males in higher-salaried leadership positions, which is consistent with other health care positions in the United States (Butter, Carpenter, Kay, & Simmons, 1987). …”

Male Occupational Therapists in Ontario: A Survey of Work-Related Issues

“…Men in female-dominated health professions Authors of nursing and social work literature have made many attempts to address the topic of males within female-dominated health professions (Butter et al, 1987;Egeland & Brown, 1989;Kadushin, 1976;Wharton & Baron, 1987). Kadushin (1976) suggested that there are considerable advantages to being in any profession in which males are a minority.…”

“…In other studies, men have indicated salary levels as the primary source of job dissatisfaction and some have even suggested that the large proportion of females in their professions is the cause of low salaries (Butter et al, 1987;Rider & Brashear, 1988;Wharton & Baron, 1987). Nonetheless, men have been adapting to the difficulties they have encountered within these professions by specializing in areas that they perceive to be more congruent with traditional male roles (Egeland & Brown, 1989;Kadushin, 1976).…”

“…In western societies, vocations have often been subject to gender segregation (Butter, Carpenter, Kay, & Simmons, 1987;Egeland & Brown, 1989;Fottler, 1976).…”

The Feminization of the Physician Assistant Profession

“…This case also differs from other studies on the feminization of employment (e.g., Coventry 1999;Muzzin et al 1994;Reskin and Roos 1990) in that many women enter PA work because it offers an alternative to traditional nursing careers and the demanding schedules of physicians. This is salient because women are normally segregated into lower status work and encounter barriers when entering higher status professions (Butter et al 1994). Being a PA allows women to practice medicine, albeit under supervision, while simultaneously balancing their family life.…”